Commercial and domestic clothes dryers are known to comprise a vent hose which is used to direct hot air from the dryer through an exhaust conduit and ultimately to the exterior of the building through a building exterior vent hood. Dryer vent hoses often are made from a metal, foil, or plastic accordion-style ducting material which is readily expanded, contracted, and made to conform to a plurality of angles allowing a flexible connection method between the dryer vent and the building exterior vent hood. While this flexible connection method is easy to install by the average handyman, it also can result in dangerous scenarios.
While the air initially passing through the accordion-style vent hose tend to be damp, as the drying cycle completes the air becomes very hot, dry, and laden with clothes lint. The lint easily accumulates in the folds and bends of the accordion-style vent hose. These accumulations limit the ability of the hot air to escape and are very flammable. Many buildings are damaged by fires that originated from accumulated clothes lint that was ignited in accordion-style hoses.
The length of the accordion-style dryer hose can also be an aggravating factor for lint accumulation. As dryers are positioned close to walls in order to align their vents with the building vent and to maximize the usable space in front of the dryer. For this reason the dryer hose must be longer than needed. The hose must expand when the dryer is away from the wall so that a person can fit between the wall and the dryer to connect and disconnect the hose to the dryer vent and building exterior vent hood, and then the hose must contract as the dryer is brought closer to the wall. The excess amount of hose required to provide expansion also increases the number of accordion folds in the hose further increasing the amount of lint that may become trapped in the hose and the chances for it to ignite.
Periodic cleaning of all dryer vent hoses is required to ensure that clothes lint does not accumulate within them. While the accordion-style dryer hoses are quickly and easily attached to the clothes dryer vent and building vent, disconnecting them for cleaning can be very troublesome. In order to disconnect them, the dryer often must be moved from its location adjacent to a wall to allow access to the hose. Not only is moving a dryer a physically intensive task, but it may result in wear and tear damage to the floor, dryer vent, and building exterior vent hood.
Therefore, a need exists for clothes dryer vent apparatuses configured for manipulating a dryer vent hose. There also exists a need for clothes dryer vent apparatuses that are able to minimize the length of dryer hose required to connect the vent of a dryer to a building exterior vent hood. There is a further need for clothes dryer vent apparatuses that allow a dryer vent hose to be quickly connected and disconnected for cleaning and lint removal without requiring movement or excessive movement of the dryer. Finally, there exists a need for clothes dryer vent apparatuses that are able to allow inspection of lint in the vent hose and that allow lint to be removed from the vent hose without disconnecting the vent hose or moving the dryer.